The appeals court disagreed, saying Bush relied on Congress's joint resolution authorizing the use of force after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as well as two congressionally enacted laws.
"We think it no answer to say, as Hamdan does, that this case is different because Congress did not formally declare war," said the decision by Judge Randolph, who was appointed to the appeals court by the first President Bush. He was joined in the ruling by a Reagan appointee and a judge placed on the court by the current president.
A leading critic of the Pentagon's military commissions, the Center for Constitutional Rights, called Friday's ruling "misguided" and said it could have an impact beyond the status of Hamdan.
"The ramifications of the decision may be enormous in terms of the danger created for US soldiers stationed abroad," it said. "If the US does not use fair and just procedures that guarantee military detainees due process protections in the `war on terror,' no other country will feel the need to do so either."
Just 15 of the 520 detainees at Guantanamo Bay have been designated by Bush for such prosecution by military tribunals and only four, including Hamdan, have been charged. The Pentagon said it is developing charges against others, and maintains that those not charged could be held indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay.
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